Business - sold an expensive item thats gone faulty

[eniacs]

Afternoon all,

Can you advise?

I run a small ltd company selling specialised electronics. I've sold a battery which is quite expensive. The buyer came back to me at 2 months and said there was an issue, showed me a video of the battery being flat. I advised charge it and didnt hear anything more for 7 more months. Then contacted again said it may be faulty not sure. I advised it was over 6 months and obviously it was working when he took ownership of it. He said its got a 5 year warranty and wants it fixing (label shows 5 year warranty, no manufacturers details etc though). He decided to chase with the manufacturer.

After another 5 months hes written now and wants a solution.

What is the right thing to do? I feel its all very suspicious, if i had somthing faulty i wouldnt sit on it for a year. He also showed me a photo of a charger he was using that is likely to have damaged the battery, warned him about using these although no proof of this. Its probably an easy repair, which I've offered to do.

What am i liable for at this point?

Thanks.

[Manxman]

In the first 6 months after purchase any faults that show up are deemed to have been present at purchase (unless the seller can demonstrate otherwise) and the seller basically has the option of either replacing the item, repairing the item, or giving a full refund. The seller only has one opportunity to remedy the issue, and if that fails the purchaser is entitled to a full refund.

In the case of any faults that show up later than 6 months after purchase, the onus is on the consumer to demonstrate that the fault was present at purchase - on the balance of probability. If they can do that they are entitled to a refund, but the seller is permitted to reduce the refund to account for the use that the consumer has already had from the item.

The limitation period for taking action is six years, so six years after purchase there's basically nothing a consumer can do in respect of faulty goods.

So in this case - as regards your customer's statutory consumer rights - it probably depends on whether they can demonstrate that the fault was more likely present than not when they bought it.

You're the expert. If your customer came to you and said that they'd bought this battery from somebody else and xyz is wrong with it, what would you tell them? That it had probably had a latent fault when they bought it?

(The legislation is here Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) and you really ought to be familiar with it if you are a retailer of specialised electronic items that might go wrong).

The warranty question is a different matter. Most warranties are issued by manufacturers and what a buyer is entitled to under a warranty is entirely dependent on the T&Cs of the warranty - nothing else.

So what is the warranty here? The consumer says there is a 5 year warranty but apparently there is no paperwork and it's not a manufacturer's warranty. So whose is it? You say that it says "5 year warranty" on the box, but you don't know what it is even though you sold it?

I suppose the customer might be able to argue that you mis-sold it to him if it was advertised as having a 5 year warranty but it doesn't exist...?

[eniacs]

Thankyou manxman for taking the time on that reply.

These batteries have a management system to protect themselves. They are easily damaged. They do fail naturally too of course, but damage by consumer is much more likely.

Im aware of the legistalation lets say, but I've always acted so far on whats fair. We do have some comeback to suppliers to us so usually try to help a purchaser either replace or assist with a repair. It is often people damage things themselves and this is usually obvious, but this one person bought from a long way away (drove to pick it up from us) and then did everything by odd sporadic messages afterwards. I operate only a small company from my home and work as well so its not my primary income. I am interested in the products i sell though so enjoy the work.

The manufacturer is a chinese company, hard to get hold of, they offered no paperwork with the battery. They may offer the customer a warranty but are likely to be hard to deal with. They usually blame the consumer for the damage or impose a large delivery cost for replacement parts.

Since i offered repair he has gone silent. So i presume is either going to take it further or is busy. We will see next course of action. I would be happy to take it back and sell it on, in this energy crises it would easily sell for much more now.